Last fall, the city of San Antonio made headlines when then–police chief William McManus announced a plan to ticket people if they were caught giving money to panhandlers. It was a mean proposal, and the public attention quickly killed the potential ordinance.

But San Antonio’s discouragement of charity and compassion toward the homeless seems to remain. Joan M. Cheever, who has been serving high-quality meals to the homeless in the city through her Chow Train food truck, learned that firsthand in early April.

As MySA.com reports:

Joan Cheever, founder of the nonprofit mobile food truck known as the Chow Train, was cited last Tuesday by San Antonio police officers for feeding the homeless in Maverick Park.

Cheever has been serving restaurant-quality meals to the city’s homeless population for the past 10 years, and has been profiled on Rachel Ray’s cooking show for her charitable efforts.

Over the years, police officers have passed by and waved as she fed homeless people, but last Tuesday night four bike-patrol officers stopped in the park and gave Cheever a ticket that carries a potential fine of $2,000. Cheever has a food permit for her mobile truck, but she was cited for transporting and serving the food from a vehicle other than that truck.

Cheever posted about the permit situation on the Chow Train’s Facebook page, explaining that she used the licensed commercial mobile kitchen to prepare the food, then placed it in Health Department–approved catering equipment—it was merely the delivery of that food that happened in an unlicensed vehicle, she writes, noting that pizza and sandwich restaurants do that without trouble.

I ask you: What is the difference between food delivery services by restaurants and Dominoes pizza, Jimmy Johns and The CHOW TRAIN. Not one gosh darn thing except $$$. When I talked to the health department and said WE–THE CHOW TRAIN– are the caterers of the poor, they said, that’s ridiculous. They don’t have a caterer. When I said, what is the difference between me bringing food into the park vs. the age old tradition of families camping out and cooking AND serving food on Easter Sunday, they told me — those people are their friends and family.

Cheever remains defiant in the face of the ticket and the potential fine. The Chow Train organization held a candlelit vigil in the park, and she vows to fight the citation in court. And the avenue that she intends to use to fight it is one that’s been responsible for a lot of headlines in the country these days: the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Texas’s version of that law is very different from the one that has caused controversy in Indiana in recent weeks (something that has inspired the Legislature to consider passing one that’s more Indiana-inspired), and according to Texas Public Radio, Cheever cited the law on the books to the officer who wrote her the ticket, albeit to no avail.

Cheever—who published the book Back From the Dead in 2006, about the men who left death row following the (ultimately short-lived) 1972 elimination of the death penalty—earned her undergraduate degree at Southern Methodist University and got her law degree from St. Mary’s University. She has a history of writing about and engaging in activism around issues like the death penalty and homelessness, and it’s hard to argue that feeding homeless people in the park with food prepared in a properly permitted vehicle isn’t an exercise of religion. There are certainly more examples in the Bible of Jesus giving food to hungry people than there are of him refusing to bake cakes for gay weddings, after all.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act that went into effect in Texas in 1999 is specific about what it does and doesn’t protect. It doesn’t “establish or eliminate a defense to a civil action or criminal prosecution” in a civil rights suit—meaning that if you claim that your religion prevents you from making pizzas for gay people, you can’t avoid a discrimination suit by citing the law. Frequently, it’s been used by Native Americans to do things like prevent schools or employers from forcing them to cut their hair. Lawmakers have proposed bills in the current legislative session that would alter the language considerably, removing the civil rights protections and no longer requiring a state-imposed burden to be “substantial.” (These bills are currently considered unlikely to pass.)

Over the past year, it’s become increasingly obvious that the city wants its homeless population out of the view of downtown tourists. It wants to push the homeless west of downtown to Haven for Hope, and discourage any acts of compassion that might divert them from that destination.

Last September, then-Police Chief William McManus floated the idea of making it a Class C misdemeanor to give cash to local panhandlers, an example of municipal overreach that met with scorn from the public and was abruptly dropped.

Express-News reporter Benjamin Olivo also reported that benches had been discreetly removed from Houston Street because city staffers worried that the benches led to loitering and panhandling in the area.

There was also the case of Calvary Chapel of San Antonio, which for 17 years had devoted the last Saturday of October to handing out food and clothes to the needy in Travis Park. Last year, the city bumped them from the park that Saturday, until then-Councilman Diego Bernal raised an objection.

It remains to be seen how the City of San Antonio will treat Cheever and the Chow Train, of course. The last time public outrage was triggered by the city’s discouraging charity, the city reversed course quickly, and it’s possible that the charges against Cheever will be dropped. That would seemingly be a rational response to a case that’s attracted a lot of attention for the way that it seems to outlaw charity, in a city that’s made no bones about wanting to keep charity restricted to very specific parts of town.

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Comments

TAJ

This woman is a hero… and the thought of using the law itself is brilliant…. Let’s see how the powers of mammon try to stop her…. start messing with religion in law and this is the Chaos that will come… wait for the Shiria Laws to kick in on all these levels…

traveler25

She should be ashamed for breaking the law, what is wrong with people. :O

Paul Superunknown

Are you a troll?

vippy

Give the homeless jobs and pay them where they can afford to rent a place, problem solved. But hey, we have no jobs but we want the fallout from that hidden as well. 44 % of homeless have a job but are unable to rent a place, their hours were cut, full time jobs have been eliminated. Just ask a clerk next time you are at Walmart. Know what is going on around you.

WishIWuzACropDuster

Amen. I hope you would stay consistent with that line of thought when I tell you that many homeless and hungry are registered sex offenders. Their crimes are despicable. There’s no denying it. However, once their time has been served out, don’t they too need real options available that would help them in getting back on their feet with stable housing and a job where they can be self-supportive? Had you rather have the laws to where sex offenders immediately drop off of the radar once released from prison due to the insurmountable obstacles they present? No one knows where they are, which means they can’t be monitored. Or would you rather have the laws to where they can find homes and jobs and be in a stable environment where they’re less likely to re-offend and where they can be monitored? The laws regarding sex offenders will guarantee an ongoing problem with homelessness and hunger. As it stands, the sex offender laws legislate these offenders into homelessness and hunger with NO OPTIONS for improving their lot in life.

labman57

Sorry lady. Everyone knows that “religious freedom” can only be invoked to promote intolerance, not compassion.

Furry Lewis

In a state and a nation that produces a great deal of bluster about Christianity and being Christian, Ms. Cheever was ticketed for doing the most “Christian” thing a person can do. She was treating her neighbors how she would like to be treated. Thank you, Joan Cheever. Shame on San Antonio.

WishIWuzACropDuster

Amen!! Shame on the rich snobs that enacted that law. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…I hope everyone who supported and passed, and enforces those laws and their families end up homeless, penniless and hungry. I hope they’re forced to live outside during the most violent of thunderstorms and the bitterest cold of winter weather. Maybe then they’ll learn the value of good Samaritans like this poor lady.

This smacks of rich businessmen and politicians that were born with silver spoons in their mouths that never had to want for anything in life. They were probably self-entitled, selfish little brats as kids.

Philip Chin

Was this woman Feeding the Homeless? Or Feeding their Addictions?

Furry Lewis

Addiction to food?

Philip Chin

No, it would be addiction to cheap beer and drugs. The FREE food part allows the Homeless to spend all their time and efforts in search of beer and drugs since their food and shelter is FREE.

If it was ONLY addictions to food, it would have been satisfied years ago as they have had free food for years, if not decades. Plus their family and friend can easily provide for food and give them a couch to sleep on, yet they abandoned them anyway. Why did they all abandoned their own family member and friend? Cause their drug and alcohol addictions most likely caused them to steal from their family and friends to support their drug habit.

Furry Lewis

When Jesus took those loaves and fishes and fed the multitudes, he was enabling them. Shame on Jesus for feeding the hungry!

Philip Chin

I remember Jesus saying “Feed the Poor”. I do NOT remember Jesus saying, “Feed the Addictions”.

Hence, are you Feeding “the least of these”?
Or, are you feeding the Addictions of the “least of these”?

Furry Lewis

They should be ground up for fertilizer.

Alma Guardiola Trevino

maybe people should boycott Fiesta and she how much it will hurt the city..

WishIWuzACropDuster

Amen!! Shame them via any public means available…Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, YouTube, etc. Nothing works like public shaming when it comes to sorry politicians.

Shlomo Goldfarb

Oy vey you stupid goyim, G-d intended for poor people to be poor because we deserve their shekels and they don’t! They should be bled dry like we do to all you filthy gentile scum!

dje3

The argument regarding pizza and other delivery in “regular private” vehicles is sound and should prevail. In fact there are laws regarding “selective prosecution”. If there have been no other citations of those commercial unlicensed delivery vehicles then there can be no prosecution for this non-profit. That would be illegal selective prosecution by definition, which has been upheld to be an illegal activity by government agencies already.

The issues regarding homelessness are much greater than just pretending that a city can ignore or get rid of the problem through legislation. Sadly, even the best programs do very little to help those homeless get back on thier feet, however many of the homelss are truly vagabonds who prefer the lifestyle or druggies and addicts etc that live on the edges of society. Many of them actually travel the country from south in winter to north in summer just as the snowbirds do. THis means that no one can have a system that will be able to help them in the long term, they regularly dissappear from help centers all over the US, reappearing at others and abusing the system. A hard set of circumstances to have a system to help.

Paul Superunknown

Or, at least, any agency in a system that requires that an Aid recipient verify who he/she is with valid photo I.D., that a Recipient is able to provide proof of residency, and/or provide an address!

Paul Superunknown

How about charging 1 cent for the food? But first, give every person who wants to eat, a penny! (Really wind ’em up!)

WishIWuzACropDuster

I like how you think!!! Have a cigar box of pennies at the Point of Sale!!

WishIWuzACropDuster

I hope the snobs that pushed for and enacted these laws everyone end up homeless, penniless, and without so much as a pot to pee in. I wish that on their wives/husbands/and kids as well. Then they can see how much the compassion of good Samaritans really means. This law smacks of upper-class snobbery. They won’t know what it’s like to be in dire need of basic necessities until they themselves and the ones they love are in that kind of need.

Paul Superunknown

Nope, that’s too easy on them! How about if their parents became homeless, or their Adult Children along with their Grandchildren. That way they’d experience the stress of having loved ones without the means to support themselves. Then, they might sacrifice their own greedily hoarded lucre to fill in the hole inside where their heart used to be!

Paul Superunknown

Do I get an “up vote!” lol

WishIWuzACropDuster

You got it!!

WishIWuzACropDuster

I like how you think. That would be exponentially better!! Then they can watch someone they love languish in those inhumane conditions. I also wish this on them with respect to the sex offender laws that have been proven over and over to be utterly worthless and virtually ensure offenders and their families will NEVER have a chance at ANY SORT OF A NORMAL, PEACEABLE LIFE.

Did you know that many sex offenders are literally legislated into homelessness and starvation?

Think about it honestly if you will….the myriad of restrictions a sex offender has to live by virtually ensures homelessness and hunger. They have so many places that they can’t live or work within 1,000-1,500+ feet of. Restrictions like that can make even the largest of cities one big off-limits area.

Now add to that the new farm bill passed last year now excludes sex offenders from even getting food stamps. You can thank a LA politician named David Vitter for that one. The ONLY saving grace about the new 2014 Farm Bill is that this disqualification is NOT retroactive. That means sex offenders currently already receiving benefits cannot be cut off. The law applies only to sex offenses committed after the new Farm Bill went into effect.

You see, the system has by means of legislation help create what is probably a big chunk of the homeless and hungry population and then they have the unmitigated gall to say that feeding the homeless only encourages them to stay homeless? The laws are stacked to where these people have NO REAL OPTIONS for ever improving their lot. I’d even go so far as to say the laws are constructed in such a way to ensure this group of ex-offenders fails without ever having been given a fair chance to succeed once released from prison. There are so many in society that get some sort of twisted, sadistic satisfaction at watching this play out. I know I’m in the small minority on this issue, but I think that is just intrinsically wrong and cruel and gratuitously sadistic.

Science..and I mean TRUE HONEST SCIENCE proves that the more stability these offenders have in their lives THE LESS LIKELY THEY ARE TO RE-OFFEND. Who in their right mind would oppose something that would truly make kids in our community safer? The residency and work restrictions incite some offenders to go underground to where no one knows where they are. I’d rather have them in stable, permanent housing with a job to pay their own way. That way they can be watched. If they have something better to live for, don’t you think that would be an incentive NOT to re-offend? Rebuilding a life after prison is a near impossible task for this particular group of felons. Considering all the work that goes into rebuilding a life, I don’t think they’d be as apt to throw it away.

That is not what the public wants to hear or believe. They only want to feed an unending tide of lifelong retribution. If there’s one thing we love more than science, it’s a good “bogey man” to hate.

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